Nine Newcastle buildings to be transformed into £35m hotel

Plans for a £35 million hotel complex have been unveiled for the centre of Newcastle.

The 120-bedroom hotel on Grey Street will have a rooftop swimming pool, a nightclub, restaurants and retail outlets.

The plans will encompass nine existing buildings, seven of which are GradeII listed.

The site of the development will stretch from Grey Street down to its junction with Mosley Street and across to the lower part of Cloth Market.The scheme includes the famous Balmbras music hall at the Cloth Market, with the aim of restoring it to its original identity, along with a plan for Drury Lane – the site of the original Theatre Royal – which will be home to a number of retail outlets within a glass covered cobbled street.

Full plans for the scheme will be presented to Newcastle City Council by the end of the year, with a view to starting the refurbishment in spring 2018 subject to planning permission being granted.

The plan is for the leisure complex to be open by the end of 2020.